


brothers

by Echo (Lyrecho)



Series: ad astra per aspera ad infernos [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: (kind of), Gen, Oneshot, fate!swap AU, oracle!Prompto, role!swap AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-05
Packaged: 2018-09-22 03:37:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9581294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Echo
Summary: "Everything will be fine," Ravus stressed. "Okay? I promise you - so long as you do nothing to draw the ire of the empire before your wedding, you'll be perfectly fine. And everything else...everything else comes after that, so worry about it then." He drew his hands back, but not before pinching at Prompto's cheek in a move so fast there wasn't even a chance for him to try and block it. "I'm here for you, little brother."Prompto looked up at the man who, in the end, was familliar by face alone. "Are you?" He asked, gaze searching.As the oracle, Prompto isn't too sure about this whole 'arranged marriage' thing. As his brother, neither is Ravus - even if he wouldneveradmit it.|Tumblr||Twitter|





	

**Author's Note:**

> Jose here, with...yet another XV AU. I know. It's getting kind of crazy. I should stop.
> 
> I just _can't_ , you guys. It's a disease, and I'm helpless against it. _I'm sorry_.
> 
> This is going to be a series of oneshots because I find dedicating myself to interconnected complete stories rather than one giant multichip is both easier and less daunting.
> 
> This is based on [chocobaes](https://chocobaes.tumblr.com/) fate!swap AU, only instead of the entire cast switching around it's just Luna and Prompto that have traded places, because their swap was the first one I saw _weeks_ ago that inspired me to write this, long before I knew that the whole 'verse was a thing. Anyway, credit where credit is due: they (fran, I think?) were totally my muse for this one. So thanks!
> 
> [|Tumblr|](http://sealingdesigneejosephine.tumblr.com)

"Where are you going?"

The voice came from behind him, and Prompto paused - frozen midstep on his way down the stairs, one foot still in the air. He winced, and cursed his brother in his mind as he turned to face him - standing tall and with arms crossed on the landing above him, expression completely unimpressed.

"For a walk," he said flatly, and smirked a little when Ravus' face twitched.

"A walk," his brother repeated. "In those clothes and with a suitcase in hand, you're going for a _walk?_ "

Carefully, Prompto straightened his posture and tilted his head back to meet Ravus' stare head on. His confidence was, of course, bravado - but he'd gotten _good_ at that over the years, and it wasn't like Ravus even knew him well enough anymore to pick up on the fact that he was faking it; likely everything they knew about one another these days came from news casts. "Yes," he said. "A nice, long walk."

Ravus sighed. "Prompto," he said. "You aren't leaving." His eyes narrowed. "And in case that wasn't clear enough, allow me to lay it out in no ambiguous terms: you aren't to leave this room, let alone make way for Insomnia." He raised one eyebrow. "We'll be heading there within the week, anyway. Just be patient. And _obedient_. You've been doing so well lately; let's not backtrack now."

Prompto felt ill. Patient? _Obedient?_ All he'd ever been was those two things - and he was fine with it, the empire could claim ownership of him and ruin his life all he wanted; he didn't care. But now - now they were dragging _Noctis_ into it. And it wasn't even like it was _unexpected_ \- Noct was the Chosen, the King of Light anointed by the crystal to purge the Scourge from Eos; his destiny was always going to be frought with danger and animosity. But as oracle, Prompto had always thought he was meant to _help_ , not hinder - and how was that going to be possible if he was going to be the reason Noctis was chained unto the empire?

He would have argued it - distance that had only grown between them with every passing year echoing out like a death's knell or not, Ravus was his _brother_ , and the two of them _knew_ that family came above all else - but Gentiana, with the weird innate sense of time she had had since as far back as he could remember, appeared behind Ravus, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Ravus jumped. Prompto couldn't blame him - he'd been jumpscared by his 'caretaker' more than once throughout the years.

"I - Gentiana," Ravus sighed, and closed his eyes briefly. "Surely you're not letting him partake in this madness?"

There was a pleading tone to his voice, but if it tugged at her heartstrings Gen's face gave nothing away. She simply blinked at Ravus - her eyes open for once; as they only were around the two of them, the last of the blood of the oracle - her smile as serene as ever.

"He is well past the age of majority," she pointed out. "If he wishes to leave, neither you nor I can stop him." Her expression became colder - as did the air, and Prompto shivered; when Gen was mad everything _sucked_. It seemed Ravus remembered this fact, too - his face was pale and eyes were wide as he stared at Gentiana and quickly (smartly) backed up a step. "All of this pointless bickering," she said, and it _hurt_ to hear the shades of tones of a mother in her voice. "You are _brothers_." She frowned. " _Play nice_."

She moved past Ravus, long skirts trailing soundlessly as she glided down the stairs, only to pause by Prompto and take up his luggage in her own hands. "Your brother does speak _some_ wisdom," she said. "Practice patience, young one. Your time is not yet; you must wait." Her smile was soft as she looked at him over her shoulder - she must have picked up on the pained noise of protest he had made. "Do you not trust me?" She asked.

Startled, Prompto's gaze locked onto hers immediately, trying to reassure her that that was _so far_ from the truth. "I trust you," he said quietly, his voice small. "Always."

"Then trust me now," she said. "Go back to your room, and play nice with your brother. The moment for you to enter the field is not yet upon us, and..." she flicked a quick look Ravus' way; his back was turned to them as he braced himself upon the railing of the stairs. "The time you have to spend in peace with your family is more precious than you know."

And then she was gone - a final squeeze of reassurance and comfort to his shoulder as she continued to move past him; she was down the stairs and out of the door in a move Prompto _knew_ she'd only pulled so as not to clue in any of the Imperials loitering around. If given the choice, Gen would never walk anywhere, and that was just a _fact_. For a goddess, she sure was lazy.

But lazy or no, she _was_ a goddess; Prompto's direct and _personal_ goddess (patron, protecter, put whatever name to it you wanted), and to his knowledge she had never steered him wrong. As strange as it sounded, Gen was one of the closest things he'd ever had to a parent; he knew she loved him and would only ever push him towards what was _best_ \- for both himself and the world, protecting them both for as long as she could.

And so, he sighed, acknowledged defeat, and began to head back up the stairs. Ravus, apparently lost deep in thought, a frown creasing his brow, flinched when Prompto poked him.

Surprise flickered across his face. "You're...still here," he said, tone and eyes both narrowing in suspicion. "Why?"

Prompto shrugged. "Gen sided with you, for some reason," he said. "Guess that means I'm sticking around 'til you drag me to Insomnia."

Showing that he wasn't _always_ so stoic and that they were _definitely_ related, Ravus rolled his eyes. "I thought you'd be happy about this," he complained. "You've been mooning over Noctis Lucis Caelum since before you even met him. Isn't marrying him a lifelong dream of yours, or something?"

A scowl on his face, Prompto punched his brother's arm. "Shut up," he said. "Whether I - at one point - wanted that or not is a moot point. I never wanted to get close to Noctis through an arrangement made at the behest of the empire." He bit his lip. "It's so unfair."

Ravus' eyes darkened. " _Life_ is unfair," he said. "And as oracle, you should know that better than most."

Prompto sighed. "You're meant to _comfort_ me," he whined. "You know, tell me that everything will be fine and I have nothing to worry about and - "

His words _froze_ , breath catching in his throat as Ravus reached up to cup his face with both hands, narrowing his vision and world down to his brother alone.

"Everything will be _fine_ ," Ravus stressed. "Okay? I promise you - so long as you do nothing to draw the ire of the empire before your wedding, you'll be perfectly fine. And everything else...everything else comes after that, so worry about it then." He drew his hands back, but not before pinching at Prompto's cheek in a move so fast there wasn't even a chance for him to try and block it. "I'm here for you, little brother."

Prompto looked up at the man who, in the end, was familliar by face alone. "Are you?" He asked, gaze searching.

The beginning flickers of something that may have been offense shone in the back of Ravus' eyes - but then he simply sighed, and there was just something so profoundly _sad_ about the air around him in that moment. "Of course I am," he said softly. "If nothing else, Prompto: that is the one thing you can _never_ doubt about me."

Slowly, Prompto nodded. His words rang with truth, after all - and really, more than anything, Prompto just wanted his _brother_ back. His family and his _life_ back. "Okay," he said simply.

Ravus smiled. It was tight, and...slightly awkward, but undoubtedly a smile. "You're going back to your room?" He asked, and Prompto nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "I'll probably just go and play, like...King's Knight, or something."

"Well...have fun," Ravus said. "And please, don't leave the building."

"I won't," Prompto smiled. "I promise."

-x-

He wasn't alone in his room - when he opened the door, both Pryna and Umbra were waiting for him.

He smiled - it had been a while since he had seen the two of them together.

"Hey," he greeted. "Where have you two been, huh?"

As he spoke, Pryna's ears picked up, and her tail thumped against the floor as she wagged it. Contrasting her greeting, Umbra huffed out a disinterested breath and turned his face away from the doorway (and Prompto), curling up so that his tail covered his muzzle.

"See, this is why Pryna's my favourite," he said. Pryna preened, trotting over to him - she loved attention when it was given to her; any attention, really, but especially the positive kind - especially when it gave her something above Umbra, who had raised his head just long enough to roll his eyes at Prompto.

Prompto had no idea if normal dogs could roll their eyes - but Umbra definitely could, and did, quite frequently. "Don't sass me," he teased. "I have a job for you, anyway."

For the first time since he'd walked into his room, Umbra perked up, and looked at least _somewhat_ interested, if not happy. Pryna whined, and he scratched behind her ears. "Don't worry," he reassured her. "You've got an important job, too." He smiled. "You get to stay with me!"

Pryna let out a short bark and nudged against his side - Umbra pushed himself to his feet and shook himself before wandering over to stand next to his counterpart; once there, he shoved her away to stand where she had been.

Prompto scowled at Umbra - him and his _attitude_ , gods - but Pryna didn't seem to take offense. She never did, really. Prompto wasn't sure if she was being obtuse about it and trying to wind Umbra up or was just genuinely oblivious, but she pretty much always treated anything he did as an invitation to play. Of course, Umbra being Umbra, he ignored her with all the skill and stoicness of a well practiced statue.

"I need you to take a message to Noct," he said quickly, before things could deteriorate any further and he got side tracked - focus; not his strong point. "Can you do that for me?"

Umbra just looked at him. _What exactly do you take me for?_ His flat stare said.

"Right." Prompto nodded. "Just give me a minute to slip the photos into the book." He stood, and made for his desk, where the notebook he shared with Noctis (and had for years; passed between the two of them as the only personal communication he'd had with the outside world since the empire's occupation of Tenebrae) was resting, pages open on the latest message he'd written so as to let the ink dry without smudges. Quickly, he glanced over it - it was something he'd written that morning, trying to find a way to communicate everything he had felt about the situation they found themselves in to Noctis; his hope, his fear, his deep regret that he'd been forced upon someone he considered his closest, most precious person when to them he was probably little more than an infrequent penpal.

Of course, he hadn't acutally _written_ any of that down in so many words; he doubted Noctis would pick up on those misgivings even if he spent hours pouring over the pages, trying to read between the lines. Over the years, after all, Prompto had become especially skilled at misdirection.

 _I can't wait to see you again!_ One particular line jumped out at him as he stared. _It's been so long; knowing that Altissia is only a few weeks from now just makes it all seem even further away_.

He sighed. He could, he supposed, add more to his message - but, no. For now, this would have to do. Anything else, anything more important...like Ravus had said, that could all come after. In person, after he and Noctis had gotten reaquainted with one another - then, he could tell him everything.

A impatient sounding growl - Umbra, behind him, getting annoyed that he'd woken himself up for a job only to have to wait ten minutes before he could get going, probably - ten minutes in which he could have continued to nap.

Prompto shot an apologetic look over his shoulder. "Sorry, Umbra," he said, and quickly scooped up the envelope of photographs that he'd taken since the last time he and Noctis had exchanged the notebook, filled to the point of near tearing with as many of his pictures that Prompto could slip into it. "Here," he said, closing the book and wrapping it securely with leather ties to keep it closed and held onto Umbra. "Get it to him fast, okay?"

Umbra barked once - short and sharp, in clear agreement - and then he was gone.

Pryna and Prompto exchanged looks with one another. "He's such a drama queen," he said.

Solemnly, Pryna settled by his side, and nodded her agreement.

|[-o-]|

 _His sister wasn't even here yet and honestly, Ravus was already half sick of her. For months, the palace and the streets had been filled with nothing but sylleblossoms and white lace to welcome Tenebrae's newest princess to the world_ months _before her actual, physical arrival, prayers and blessings being shouted out at all hours to honour the newest oracle._

 _That night, it had been worse than any other - so close to the due date, his mother had been confined to her bed, and only a few hours earlier she had called out desperately for Gentiana - Ravus hadn't lingered long or close enough to hear their entire conversation but he had gotten the gist; his little sister (Stella, his mother had thought about naming her with a smile) was on her way._ Now _._

_He'd hurriedly been shuffled off to a place he would be 'out of the way,' but with how frantic the rest of the palace was, it was the easiest thing in the world to slip out of the room he'd been placed in, far away from his mother's chambers, and even easier to make his way back to them. There were people rushing all about the halls, true - but their focus was on whatever their tasks were; no one paying attention to the small, pale blur darting around them towards the chambers of the Queen and Oracle._

_His mother had been yelling, Ravus had registered as he'd ducked behind one of the pillars near the slightly ajar doors leading to his mother's bedroom - shouting out wordless cries of exertion and pain as she pushed his sister into the world._

_"The mother does well," Gentiana's voice, usually so soft and subtly accented in a way that Ravus had never been able to figure out (it was clipped like the bizarre dialect of the travelling merchants that made their homes among the ruins of Solheim on what they called their ancestral land but also_ not _, and he couldn't recognise even a trace of any of the other kingdoms in it), carried_ far _from the open door, and Ravus stilled as his mother's harsh breathing quieted for a moment as she_ listened _to her handmaiden's words. "Just a little more, and the world will welcome a new Oracle."_

 _His mother let out a sob, sounding almost as if she had near choked on_ joy _\- and the let out one final, wailing cry, that tapered off as a higher pitch joined its chorus._

_He could hear his mother gasping raggedly, taking in breath after deep breath, loud enough that it echoed in the sudden silence only broken by his younger sister's cries._

His younger sister _. Where before there had been annoyance, now there was only wonder. For so long, it had just been Ravus and his mother, just the two of them - and now, a_ little sister _._

 _A smile tugged at his lips, and he wondered how to get into his mother's room without drawing the ire of the adults around the area. He wanted to_ see her _, to see_ them _-_

_"He is beautiful," Gentiana said. "Well done."_

_Ravus' mind_ froze _, and so did his mother's breathing - the skittering noise of her inhaling and her breath_ hitching _sharply the last sound that emanated from the room before his mother said, her voice a hiss, "you_ said _this child would be the next_ oracle _."_

 _Gentiana said nothing in response, but Ravus had known her long enough to imagine well her infuriating,_ knowing _smile, and his mother's harsh breathing started up once more, quickened by her anger._

 _"Gentiana," she said. "Gentiana, don't_ smile _at me like that,_ explain what this means."

 _"This child will be the oracle whom will guide the King of Kings," Gentiana said, and Ravus' eyes widened._ What _?_

 _"This child -_ my son _cannot be the oracle!" His mother's voice was anguished. "Gentiana! Only_ women _can be oracles!"_

 _"And only this child can stand by the side of the King of Kings in the way that the oracle must. Sometimes, even Our Lady Eos must bend the rules to achieve the most favourable outcome. This child is the oracle. Your_ son _is the oracle; rejoice, dear Queen."_

 _As his mother began to sob, Ravus' body finally unfroze, and he crept from behind the pillar to peek through the open crack in the door - nearly yelping and giving himself away when he realised Gentiana was_ staring right at him _\- but she simply smiled, and turned her gaze away, to face the ones Ravus was most interested in in that moment, anyway; his mother, and his..._

 _...little_ brother _._

 _"Oh," he said faintly to himself, and watched, amazed, as his mother - sweat soaked and her hair a mess and_ crying _\- bent herself over the well swaddled bundle she held in her arms, and smiled as a hand came to poke out of the blankets and wave in the air._

 _He had a_ brother _._

A sound like breaking glass rang out, and Ravus' eyes snapped open - absolutely not misting over, not at all.

Surreptitiously, before surveying the room, Ravus wiped at the corners of his eyes with his sleeves. It had been a while since he'd thought on that moment - a while since he'd dreamed _anything_ so happy.

Of course, any lingering feelings from being immersed in that scene once more was wiped away once he caught sight of what had caused the disturbance - Niflheim's Lord Chancellor, dressed in what looked like an appropriated rug and with a butter wouldn't melt expression fixed on his face, the crystal remnants of one of his mother's favourite vases scattered about his feet.

"Oh, my," he said, with a smile as false as most of Ravus' were these days. "My deepest apologies. How clumsy of me!"

Ravus gritted his teeth,and refused to rise to the bait - not now, not when so much was at risk, not when Izunia was likely here because one of the household had already reported that Prompto had tried to leave before he could get through all of the damage control.

"Chancellor Izunia," he greeted dully. "How can I be of service?"

The man smiled at him in a way that sent shivers running uncontrollably up and down his spine. "I head our _dear_ oracle was getting a little flighty about his impending nuptials!" His gaze narrowed; became piercing. "I suppose, given the company your family keeps, it would be hard _not_ to get cold feet."

Ravus spared a brief moment to be profoundly grateful that Gentiana had already left the premises - given her true nature and identity, he didn't actually know what (if anything) Izunia would be able to do to her, but given that not so subtle jab that hinted at more knowledge than he should have - he couldn't help but be glad that the smarmy man had no way to speak to his brother's patron directly.

"Prompto is naturally flighty," he said instead, voice as cold and detached as he could possibly make it. "He sees the necessity of the situation, I assure you. He sits in his room now, in calm, _private_ reflection - as he will until the time comes to make for Insomnia."

Izunia raised two disbelieving brows. "As you say," he said, and raised two hands in a gesture of what Ravus could only assume to be surrender. "After all, what would one such as _I_ know of the oracle's preperations?" He grinned at Ravus, just wide and showing enough teeth to have him shuddering.

At least the man didn't call him out on his lies, even if he had no idea of his true end game. "Is that all, Chancellor Izunia?" He asked.

"...For now," Izunia allowed. "But we'll be seeing much more of each other soon, I expect." He smiled, and tilted his hat, gave a mocking bow. "Good day to you, Prince Fleuret."

He left, probably the same way he had come - wherever _that_ was, the man seemed to be as much of a ghost as Gentiana could be, and Ravus sighed, shoulders slumping.

 _Little brother,_ he thought. _Oh, the things I do for your sake._ He shook his head. "You're lucky I love him, mother," he muttered under his breath. "Anyone else would have done the kind thing and just offered him up to Leviathan's mercy by now."

It could have just been his imagination, but Ravus could have _sworn_ that in that moment, a warm breeze carrying the scent of sylleblossoms surrounding him - he heard his mother's laughter.


End file.
